A Warm & Welcoming Brick Apartment

This 2,290 sq.ft apartment in Ahmedabad designed by The Grid Architects fits the bill for owner’s pride, neighbor’s envy perfectly. It ticks the boxes for an industrial style apartment just as much as an old townhouse.

Brick walls are not uncommon; they come in many avatars from red to white, and wallpaper to natural. But, to have an entire apartment clad in red brick walls couple with exposed RCC for ceiling and natural stone flooring? That’s the real deal – a whole package for making others envious of your gorgeous home.

About the project:

Location: Ahmedabad

Size: 2,290 sq.ft

Type: 3-BHK apartment

Year built: 2019

Designed by: tHE gRID architects (Snehal Suthar/ Bhadri Suthar / Aanal Shah, Vishvajitsinh Hada)

Photography courtesy: Photographix India

Design should be a link between the present and future generations.   As in every project, the architects designed this apartment to suit the lifestyles of its owners. For each design and client, there is a unique combination of influences – people, places, events, memories and perception.

Layout

The main door opens to a narrow foyer with the guest bedroom to the right, living room straight ahead, and the kitchen and dining to the left. The dining opens up to large deck with the other two bedrooms tucked in private to the far left of the apartment. The layout is more private with the bedrooms out of sight. Only the dining and the kitchen share an open plan.

Brick Walls ~ High Aesthetics

The red brick cladding gives the apartment a casual but warm and welcoming vibe. The architect says,

We used machine cut bricks that were cured with RO water so as to avoid white watermark stains and then laid carefully.

All the rooms receive sunlight and natural breeze almost throughout the day resulting in optimal ventilation making the internal environment comfortable. We have used lead – free, environmentally friendly, nontoxic, water-based paints in the interior.

The natural stone flooring and the seasoned wooden flooring in combination with the wooden furniture resulted in a contemporary appeal.

Sustainable Home

The influence is very organic, yet the plan is disciplined and looks for richness without overdoing it. Brick is a versatile material that stores heat and cool air; thus, the indoor climate is very pleasant leading to a lower energy footprint.

Bricks also absorb humidity  and have a surface which is more diffusion-open than other materials. This minimizes the risk of dust mites and mild dew. They also offer noise absorption between individual rooms, noise coming from outside is likewise insulated.

It is important to integrate the indoor climate into the planning process as they help to maintain the thermal mass too and saves on AC consumption too. The carefully selected carpet and curtains and furnishings enable to control the heat as the house is located in the hot city of Ahmedabad Gujarat. 

The apartment is located on the 5th floor of the building. So brick seemed like an obvious choice to ground the design and connect it to the earth organically.

The client was keen to have an open plan. The living room is the heart and soul of the home surrounded by abundant green and huge glazed windows.

He wanted to have a visual connectivity to the dining which was already connected to a balcony, inviting as much of the surrounding greenery into the internal experience as possible. The brick, a humble material, became the soul of the room.  

The dark furniture in the living and dining bring in an industrial vibe to the apartment. If you look closely, the color choices such as yellow for the kitchen or the reds in the artworks subtly reinforce the warmer end of the spectrum.

Low Energy Footprint

The aesthetics of the apartment is consistent as the brick walls continue on to the bedrooms as well giving it an authentic feel. Natural light floods all the room through out the day through large glazed windows. Lack of grills means lights filters in unhindered.

The architects have consciously downplayed lighting by taking advantage of natural light. All one can see are recessed ceiling lighting where it is absolutely essential. Inverter based AC and LED lights have been integrated.

Lead – free, environmentally friendly, nontoxic, water-based paints have been used in the interior. This is truly an eco-friendly home that celebrates bricks and other natural materials to keep the energy footprint low.